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Bill Morrison (politician)
| image = | office = Minister of Defence | term_start = 6 June 1975 | term_end = 11 November 1975 | predecessor = Lance Barnard | successor = James Killen | office1 = Minister for Science and Consumer Affairs | term_start1 = 12 June 1974 | term_end1 = 6 June 1975 | predecessor1 = Lionel Murphy | successor1 = Clyde Cameron | office2 = Minister for Science | term_start2 = 19 December 1972 | term_end2 = 12 June 1974 | predecessor2 = Gough Whitlam | successor2 = Himself | office3 = Minister for External Territories | predecessor3 = Gough Whitlam | successor3 = None | term_start3 = 19 December 1972 | term_end3 = 30 November 1973 | office4 = Member of the Australian Parliament for St George | predecessor4 = Len Bosman | successor4 = Maurice Neil | term_start4 = 25 October 1969 | term_end4 = 13 December 1975 | predecessor5 = Maurice Neil | successor5 = Stephen Dubois | term_start5 = 18 October 1980 | term_end5 = 26 October 1984 | birth_date = | birth_place = Lithgow, New South Wales | death_date = | death_place = Bardwell Valley, New South Wales | nationality = Australian | spouse = Marty Hessell | party = Australian Labor Party | relations = | children = Tanya, Melanie (daughters), Kim (son) | residence = | alma_mater = | occupation = Diplomat | profession = | religion = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} William Lawrence "Bill" Morrison (3 November 1928 – 15 February 2013) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Australian House of Representatives and a Cabinet minister in the Whitlam government. Morrison was born in Lithgow, New South Wales and graduated with an honours degree in economics from the University of Sydney in 1949. He was a diplomat in the Department of External Affairs from 1950 to 1969, with postings to London, Moscow, Washington, D.C., Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. His posting to Moscow was terminated by the expulsion of the entire mission in 1954 as a result of the Petrov Affair. His posting to Malaysia was as Deputy High Commissioner. In 1958, he married Marty Hessell, an American citizen, in Bangkok. Political career In 1969 Morrison resigned from the diplomatic service to successfully contest the seat of St George in the 1969 election for the Australian Labor Party. In 1969 he was elected deputy chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the Sub-committee on Australia's Relations with Indonesia of that committee. He also became a member of the Select Committee on Aircraft Noise, a matter of relevance to his electorate, which was close to Sydney Airport. Following the election of the Whitlam government in 1972 Morrison was appointed Minister for External Territories and Minister for Science in the Second Whitlam Ministry. With the granting of self-government to Australia's main external territory, Papua New Guinea, on 1 December 1973, the position of Minister for External Territories was abolished and he became Minister assisting the Minister for Foreign Affairs in matters relating to Papua New Guinea. From 6 June 1975, he was Minister for Defence, Minister assisting the Minister for Foreign Affairs in matters relating to the Islands of the Pacific and Minister for Science and Consumer Affairs. He was Minister for Defence during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. He lost his seat in the 1975 election. Subsequent career Morrison was a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University in 1976 and a Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales from 1979 to 1980. In the 1980 election, he was re-elected to Parliament as the member for St George. He became a member of the Joint Parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and Deputy Chairman of its Defence Sub-committee. In 1983, he was elected as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. He did not stand for re-election in 1984 and in 1985, he was appointed Ambassador to Indonesia. In 1988, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the Commonwealth Parliament and to international relations.MORRISON, William Lawrence, It's an Honour. He retired in 1989. Morrison was a councillor of Rockdale Council in the early 1990s. In 2005, he tried to restore the reputation of Mamdouh Habib. In May 2007, he was a witness to an inquest into the death of one of the Balibo Five, Brian Peters. Notes Category:1928 births Category:2013 deaths Category:1975 Australian constitutional crisis Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Cabinet of Australia Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for St George Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:Officers of the Order of Australia Category:Australian public servants Category:People from the Central Tablelands Category:University of Sydney alumni Category:Ambassadors of Australia to Indonesia Category:Defence ministers of Australia Category:20th-century Australian politicians